2013January 25-May 08

Julian Smith, writing about “The Water Temple of Inca-Caranqui” for an Archaeology magazine story about Inca hydraulic engineering, quoted Wagner College anthropology professor Gordon McEwan, an authority on the subject.

Advance Arts Editor Michael Fressola prominently featured a performance by the Wagner College Choir and vocal ensemble Stretto in his AWE story on two vocal concerts scheduled that coming weekend on Staten Island.

Advance City Editor Ken Paulsen wrote a humorous news story, triggered by a Twitter posting, about a minor auto accident on campus that left some bystanders wondering if a little dog had been driving the car in question.

The New Books Network posted an interview with Wagner political science professor Cyril Ghosh about his new book, “The Politics of the American Dream: Democratic Inclusion in Contemporary American Political Culture.”

Apr29Crain’s New York Business

Crain’s New York Business editor Judith Messina included a Wagner College accounting student in her story about business graduates who were bypassing Wall Street in their post-commencement job search.

The Staten Island Advance covered Wagner College Athletics’ reinvention of last year’s successful philanthropic partnership with Shop Rite supermarkets and the Advance: the “25 Tons of Food” drive to stock Project Hospitality’s food pantry shelves. The new target for 2013 doubled that goal.

An Advance story looked at how the latest Internet meme, the Harlem Shake, had manifested on Staten Island — including a hilarious rendition staged in the Spiro Sports Center VIP Room by Wagner Athletics.

The Advance reported on the dedication of a new bike rack on campus to the memory of the late nursing student R.J. Tillman. Present for the dedication were Tillman’s mother and brother, Nancy and David Tillman.

The Advance reported on the return visit to the Carey Institute of Joseph Salvo, chief demographer for the City of New York. Salvo laid out the patterns of foreign immigration to NYC, breaking out the differences between Staten Island and the other four boroughs. Watch a video of Salvo’s presentation, take a look at the figures from his Power Point slideshow and read the Advance story in our online Newsroom.

When New York Times political reporters Thomas Kaplan and Jesse McKinley put together a story about how the recent spate of corruption arrests in the New York State Senate would affect the blue:red balance of power, they naturally called upon former Seymour Lachman, a former state senator and founding director of Wagner’s Carey Institute for Government Reform, for an informed opinion.

Staten Island Advance Arts Editor Michael J. Fressola previewed the Wagner College Theatre production of Jonathan Larson’s classic rock musical, “Rent,” 20 years after Wagner awarded the playwright/composer the Stanley Drama Award for a developmental version of the show.

The Advance Weekly Entertainment tab featured Michael Fressola’s story, “ ‘Rent’ Control,” as its cover/centerspread story, highlighting it with a front-page “skybox.” Fressola reviewed the WCT’s Main Stage production of “Rent.”

Eric Petillo, a Wagner College student interning in the Staten Island Advance newsroom, wrote a preview of the benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues” being staged that coming weekend at the college.

A final Advance story from graduating Wagner intern Eric Petillo highlighted the final performance of the season in the Stage One studio theater, the annual “Dance Project” program of original choreography.

The Advance followed up on its April 10 story with this feature on the Staten Island delegation’s trip to Washington for the national immigration rally at the U.S. Capitol. The group included a contingent from Wagner College.

The Advance reported on the return visit to the Carey Institute of Joseph Salvo, chief demographer for the City of New York. Salvo laid out the patterns of foreign immigration to NYC, breaking out the differences between Staten Island and the other four boroughs. Watch a video of Salvo’s presentation, take a look at the figures from his Power Point slideshow, and read the Advance story in our online Newsroom.

History professor M. Ousmane Traore moderated a panel discussion of “Strength in What Remains” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder, which was last summer’s reading selection for the incoming freshman class. Kidder relates one man’s inspiring American journey from homelessness in Central Park to Columbia University Medical School after surviving genocide and civil war in Burundi and Rwanda. The panelists were: Carl-Olivier “C.O” Prime, a senior from Haiti whose family lives in Montreal; Yvonne Taylor, a freshman from Liberia; Sidiq Souleman, a senior from Ghana; Rebecca Barrett, a freshman from Hawaii, and Gabrielle Tricorico, a freshman from Staten Island who traveled last summer to Tanzania to do volunteer work in a remote village.

On Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Wagner College sponsored a panel discussion on Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film, “Lincoln,” titled “Spielberg’s Lincoln: Fact or Fiction?” The panel members appearing in the video are, from left to right: Dr. Steven Thomas, an English professor who wrote a popular blog contrasting “Lincoln” and another contemporary film about American slavery, Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained”; Anthony Trombetta, a junior history major from Staten Island; Dr. Rita Reynolds, moderator, a history professor who studies American slavery; Erin Pentz, a sophomore and president of the History Club, from Kenilworth, N.J., and Patrick Bethel, a junior history major from Waterbury, Conn.

Crain’s New York Business columnist Greg David visited the college to talk about his new book, “Modern New York: The Life and Economics of a City.” The book follows the high-stakes drama since the 1960s of real estate development, the growth of inequality, the role of immigration and the prospects for diversification in New York City.

Wagner College held its annual Civic Engagement Recognition Awards program to support those members of the college community and its community partners who have gone the extra mile in furthering Wagner’s goal of changing the world, one neighborhood at a time, through partnerships between higher education and community leaders. Those attending the program said it was one of the most inspiring of the year.

Wagner College’s Social Justice Dialogue series re-examined the topic of diversity at the college. Presentations were given by Lonnie Brandon and Toni Whitlock, two Wagner alums who, while they were students, participated in the occupation of Cunard Hall in 1970 as members of a student organization, Black Concern, to press the college to address diversity issues in student recruitment, faculty and staff composition, and curriculum. Wagner Provost Lily McNair talked about what the college is doing today to address those issues.